PROTEST: Protesters at the
anti-fracking camp near Kirby Misperton. Picture: NIGEL HOLLAND
The Northern Echo
By Emily Flanagan
February 09, 2017
A COUNCIL is investigating complaints about the number
of visitors to an anti-fracking camp.
Kirkby Misperton Protection Camp has been in place
since the judicial review into North Yorkshire County Council’s decision to
allow shale gas extraction in Ryedale was lost just before Christmas.
The camp is situated between the A169 and Third
Energy’s site near the village and contains roughly a dozen permanent
protestors, with a daily stream of visitors to the site, most of whom are local
residents.
Ryedale District councillors were given an update on
the camp at their planning meeting in January, when the authority’s head of
planning, Gary Housden, told the committee the site would be monitored.
Mr Housden said the council had not received any
complaints for some time after the camp was established. But in the past few
weeks the council had received about 12 complaints, mainly about the number of
visitors to the site and parking on the roadside outside the camp.
He said the planning department was gathering
information and if there was a decision to be made on the camp, it would be
made by the councillors at a planning committee meeting sometime in the future.
Protesters at the camp have said 12 complaints was
relatively minor compared to the 3,236 who submitted formal objections to North
Yorkshire County Council over plans for fracking in Ryedale, but said they were
trying to address the parking issues.
Eddie Thornton, one of the protesters, said during the
wet weather they had asked visitors to park on the verge outside the camp to
avoid damage to the field, after police told them cars could park on the
roadside.
But they have been looking for donations of road
panels that would allow parking within the site.
Eddie Thornton, one of the protestors, said: “The
parking is something that we are trying to deal with. But in wet weather,
people have to park by the road.”
He added: “I think this is one thing that people are
trying to target us with,” he said. “We see this as an orchestrated campaign by
pro-fracking groups. If they have 12 complaints, compare that against the
levels of support we have.”…
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